Through green glasses : Andy Merrigan's great discovery, and other Irish tales

A collection of vim and vinegar from the late Victorian Irish storytelling tradition, Through Green Glasses offers a window into a Ireland navigating modernity while clinging to old ways. The title story follows Andy Merrigan, a character whose 'great discovery' likely involves the particular blend of wit, self-delusion, and surprising insight that defines the Irish folk hero tradition. These are tales told in the pubs and cottage hearths of rural Ireland, where the line between fact and fancy blurs and every character sees the world through their own particular lens. Written in 1889 when Home Rule debates swirled and Ireland stood at a crossroads between tradition and change, these stories capture a world of talkers and dreamers, of small dramas played out against the backdrop of a changing landscape. Edmund Downey, writing as F.M. Allen, brings an affectionate but unsentimental eye to his subjects, rendering Irish life with the kind of knowing humor that comes from both inside and outside the tradition simultaneously. For readers who cherish the short story form and the particular pleasures of Irish narrative voice.